In 2017 Derek sought out Alison West, one of the most recognized and respected yoga instructors in the industry, for his 200-hour teaching certification and his first step out of the pain, tension, and overall chronic imbalances that dogged him for over five years.

It was Alison who helped introduce Derek to the infinite potential that yoga offers for developing agency and awareness in navigating the deep challenges with our twisted, asymmetrical, and complex bodies and tapping into the mind-body connection.

Alison West, Ph.D, E-RYT, C-IAYT is director of Yoga Union and the Yoga Union Backcare & Scoliosis Center, and has been teaching yoga for over thirty years. Prior to opening Yoga Union in 1996 she studied at the Sivananda center and at Jivamukti in New York, as well with Eddie Stern and Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India.

During her education and path she continued studying Iyengar Yoga for alignment, working in particular with Kevin Gardiner, the late Mary Dunn, and, later, Genny Kapuler. Alison has also traveled to Pune to study with the Iyengars. She furthered her meditation studies with TKV Desikachar at a retreat at Colgate University in 1993 and went on to the Shambhala trainings in NYC. Her spiritual teachers include Ramana Maharshi and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

She is currently writing her first Yoga book, Yoga for Backcare, which will be followed by Yoga for Scoliosis.

First introduced to Bikram yoga while working for Akamai Technologies in the early 2000s, Derek Vanderwarker was initially impressed by the physical experience of the ninety-minute, one hundred-degree studio practice: the heat and sweat made for a quick fix after a long weekend of unhealthy choices and helped keep the pounds off. But it wasn’t until sixteen years later when he returned to yoga to untangle the leg, hip, and back injuries that had dogged him for nearly five years, that his practice began to have purpose. In 2021 he launched Guys Talking Yoga, a podcast designed to inspire men to consider the practice of yoga as a door into a better way of living by sharing the stories of other men and the benefits they have experienced along the way.

Derek is a 500-hour certified yoga instructor who did his 200-hour training with Alsion West and 300-hour training with Jason Crandell. He is the creator and host of the Guys Talking Yoga podcast.

Dr. Loren Fishman is a physiatrist with a private practice in Manhattan and he is also a professor at Columbia University Medical School where he teaches Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine. He discovered yoga in the 1970s while reading a copy of BKS Iyengar’s Light on Yoga in India and was so inspired he traveled to meet the author who ultimately inspired him to learn and use yoga to help heal people. Since then Loren has become a world-recognized pioneer in the treatment of low back pain, piriformis syndrome, osteoporosis, rotator cuff tear, and other conditions. He has authored or edited over 96 academic articles and has written many books about yoga and medical conditions. But most importantly, in all his years of experience, research, and medical practice, he hasn’t found anything that compares to the healing powers of yoga.

In 2015 Phil Sussman was a captain in the US Army who fractured his spine in two places during a training exercise. After struggling through the physical, mental, and existential pain of his trauma, and in his words “hitting rock bottom,” his wife suggested he give yoga a shot. Soon after that first class, Phil’s nascent practice began to not only pull him out of his pain and suffering, but also gave his life meaning and purpose again, ultimately leading him to create a brand, community, and movement called American Yogi.

The first of two interviews, Dr. Dan Bornstein is an associate professor of the department of health, exercise, and sport science at the Citadel, the military college of South Carolina, and the director of the Center of Performance, Readiness, Resiliency and Recovery (CPR3). He leads one of the only graduate degrees in the nation designed to meet the growing demand for exercise science specifically designed to work with military personnel and first responders – those considered tactical athletes by occupation. In this conversation, Dan shares how a significant back injury in his youth ultimately led him to yoga and his interest in musculoskeletal health and physical fitness while also shaping his commitment to public service and giving back.

Derek met Alaska native David Demers while playing lacrosse for the Portland Ales in Oregon during the late 1990s. Dave shares how yoga helped him manage chronic lower back issues that he struggled with since his college days and allowed him to keep playing lacrosse and hockey well into his 50s.